Singers and the Song - Hardcover

Lees, Gene

4.19

16 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019504293X ISBN 13: 9780195042931

Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, 1987

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

This book is a celebration of the generation of popular singers which emerged during and after the war: singers such as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughan. Universally praised as intuitive performers, Gene Lees's expert analysis also shows them to be intelligent, skilful artists, dedicated to their work. Sinatra is singled out for special praise: Lees describes him as 'our Poet Laureate, and best singer we've ever heard', and points out his technical virtuosity and his unique style of phrasing. The book also looks at some of the composers and lyricists whose material was finely tuned to suit the abilities of these new popular stars. A lyricist himself, Lees gives us an illuminating account of the language used by writers such as Johnny Mercer, their choice of subject matter, and their extraordinary gifts for rhyme and rhythm. Readership: students of music, general readers interested in popular music

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

`A book to be enjoyed...I recommend it' Gene Kelly

'Lees is a superb writer, erudite, compassionate, sensitive and knowledgeable.' Ray Comiskey, Irish Times

'a treasure of essays that explores the technique of lyric writing.' Newsday

'Lees is writing some of the best popular commentary on jazz, classic American popular song, their practitioners, and their milieu that ever has been written.' Booklist

'A collection of fascinating personal essays that have appeared in Jazzletter.' Library Journal

'The way the essays flow together, Singers and the Song has the sweep of a jazz-orchestral suite organized around recurrent motifs.' The New York Times

'Gene Lees, a lyric writer himself, is not only an extraordinarily perceptive reporter and analyst of jazz performance, jazz history and jazz people, but also one of those writers who's a joy to read on any subject at all.' Bookworld

'the best book on popular singers that I have ever read ... he writes like a dream, combining scholarship with insight, musicianship with approachability for the layman' Stage & Television Today

'Lots of amusing and fascinating stories emerge about the creation of particular songs' Colin Cooper, Beat Scene

'beautifully crafted essays ... Few rock writers begin to approach his grasp of the evolution of his chosen music.' Q

About the Author:

About the author: Gene Lees is the author of a novel And Sleep Until Noon, The Modern Rhyming Dictionary, and editor and publisher of the influential Jazzletter. A lyricist whose songs include Quiet Nights on Quiet Stars, Someone to Light Up My Life, and Yesterday I Heard the Rain, he has also written extensively for such publications as High Fidelity, Stereo Review, American Film, and Down Beat.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.